The Dolmen Hotel in Qawra will be the venue for the 2015 European Under-17 Championship as the tournament, which gets underway on Saturday, will be played in Malta after an absence of four years.

The Malta Billiards and Snooker Association launched the tournament yesterday and announced that 89 players from 28 different countries across the continent will be taking part.

It was also confirmed that national television will be covering the tournament with regular broadcasts on TVM2 during the days of the competition.

The total prize-fund made available by the European Billiards and Snooker Association (EBSA) is 3,000 euros.

Malta will be represented by five players in the championship – Brian Cini, Shaun Deguara, Chris Peplow, John Farrugia and Isaac Borg.

Matches will be played on 15 tables in the group phase where the qualifiers will be on a best-of-five format.

The last 64 and 32 knock-out matches will be best-of-seven and the remaining stages up to the final will be best-of-nine.

The champion of the tournament will be the one winning six frames in the final scheduled for March 26.

Last year, the championship was played in Romania. In the final, England’s Oliver Lines beat Josh Boileau, of Ireland, 6-1.

When the tournament was last played in Malta, it was Poland’s Kacper Filipiak who emerged as the new champion.

Kacper is expected to be back at the Dolmen this week along with a strong six-man Polish team.

They will have their work cut out to take the title back to their country this time as the English, Welsh and Scottish associations have assembled strong squads with experienced players at this level and also in the pro ranks this season.